To help your university rugby union club thrive, you are able to access a wealth of resources from your home governing body. From funding pots to first aid qualifications, development webinars and more, please take a look through some of the development opportunities available for you and your rugby community.
England: Students’ Rugby Football Union
Multiple development grants and opportunities are available and accessible via the Students’ RFU website. These grants change annually, so keep an eye on exciting new opportunities.
To allow every person to have the opportunity to access university rugby, the SRFU offer grants to increase playing capacity, reducing the barriers towards playing and participation, and facilitating equipment purchases. The Students’ RFU also offers the chance to upskill club members with first aid qualifications in support of Regulation 9.
Find current opportunities here. Queries and questions can be directed to [email protected].
The England Rugby Club Hub is also accessible and provides the rugby community with access to the RFU’s partner and supplier offers. This can be found here. Finally, ‘Keep your Boots On!’ is a resource for toolkits that educate and inspire. The library of toolkits can help up you develop as a coach, referee or person responsible for player safety and wellbeing. This can be accessed here.
Wales: Dysgu WRU
Dysgu WRU is a platform that has been developed to provide a bespoke, virtual education offer for all rugby clubs in Wales, to ensure clubs can thrive. Any member of your club is welcome to attend sessions, with a range of webinars designed for different club members available.
The content of sessions ranges from topics such as ‘Creating a Period Positive Clubhouse, ‘Tackling Racism in the Clubhouse’ and ‘Recruiting and Retaining New Volunteers at your Club’. Each session is led by industry experts.
See what’s on offer here. Queries and questions can be directed to [email protected] or here.
When registering for a session, please specify ‘BUCS’ as your ‘Club District’.
Wales: Funding Cymru
Funding Cymru provides the opportunity for rugby union clubs to access small, medium and large grants to help support rugby communities free of charge. With new opportunities emerging regularly, the platform can be used to access a wide range of different funding pots, from local to national or international sources.
Explore current opportunities here.
Scotland: Development Support
Scottish Rugby is committed to offering a wide range of club development resources. These range from strategic, tactical and operational development planning to transition and retention, women and girls’ strategy, player welfare action plans, and more.
Game Development programmes of workforce development are also offered, including but not limited to; coaching, match officiating, strength and conditioning, and first aid.
These are regionally delivered club development programmes and are also available at the National Community Game Conference.
Find further details here.
Scotland: Financial Support
Scottish Rugby also offers support for clubs at various levels depending on their membership status with the SRU. This includes a dedicated Student Rugby Participation Agreement, minimum operating standards, league participation, travel and player improvement funding.
Dedicated 'Growth and Participation' funding is available, covering funding for support in Women and Girls growth, Development Environments, State School connection and facility developments.
Development Officer Framework Funding is accessible too. This will financially support a dedicated member of development staff in situ.
Find out more about financial support in Scotland here.
